Will Ullmark start playoffs in net?
In an ideal scenario for the Bruins, both Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman would get time between the pipes during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Coach Jim Montgomery hasn’t steered away from talk of keeping his goalie rotation intact for the postseason, but the Bruins still need to make the call as to who earns the nod in Game 1.
For most of the season, Swayman has been the better option in net. But with the playoffs just four weeks away, has the momentum shifted back to Ullmark?
It would be a surprising reshuffle, but it’s tough to ignore the stats.
After a 6-2 win over the Senators Tuesday, Ullmark has won three straight games, posting a .956 save percentage over that stretch. In his last three, Swayman is 1-2-0 with an .848 save percentage, relinquishing 12 goals in nine periods.
A longer sample size doesn’t exactly change things. His overall numbers since the All-Star break do not leap off the page — the reigning Vezina Trophy winner is 41-5 with a .913 save percentage in 10 games.
But Swayman is sporting only a .902 save percentage since the break, with the 25-year-old netminder tagged with three goals on 29 shots in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers.
“You don’t want to lose, but you want to trust the process. And that’s what happened tonight,” Swayman said Thursday. “And I think, again, a lot of opportunities to learn from our mistakes and move forward as a team.”
This recent slide is a sizable dip from the brilliance Swayman displayed when he sported a .924 save percentage and recorded three shutouts over his first 27 games.
Ullmark stressed that every netminder goes through his fair share of peaks and valleys over an 82-game grind.
“We don’t go into details,” Ullmark said of his recent conversations with Swayman. “We show our support, talking about small things, maybe talking about life. Life is bigger than hockey. And sometimes it might be things that are going on off the ice that might be bothering [you] and that kind of creates this inconsistency on the ice. I’ve been a part of that as well lately.”
The Bruins still have ample time to get Swayman back into a groove before the playoffs, with 11 games left on the regularseason docket. Tightening up his positioning and tracking will be needed if Montgomery intends to roll out a platoon in the postseason.
The case can be made that Ullmark deserves the lion’s share of reps down the stretch, given both his strong returns in net and in anticipation of the grind that awaits if he’s appointed the No. 1.
But after months of a near-even split of reps with Swayman, Ullmark said deviating from the script isn’t always the best path forward — a lesson the Bruins learned the hard way last April against the Panthers.
“Come playoff time, you don’t want to change anything,” Ullmark noted. “You want to be the same guy. You want to do the same thing. So you have your routines, your preparations, the same things, which takes away a lot of the stress and the nervousness.
“You know, it’s still a hockey game. It’s just a little bit more intense and there’s more on the line obviously, and if you lose four times, you’re out. But at the same time, you’re still going out there trying to win hockey games. There’s still a rubber puck you have to stop.”
Breather for Marchand
Brad Marchand did not participate in Friday’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena, with Montgomery designating it a maintenance day for the captain. The 35-year-old winger has been given several practice days off through the season, and Montgomery said it’s not set in stone that Marchand will get the green light for Saturday’s matinee against the Flyers in Philadelphia. ”Most likely,” said the coach. “I’m not going to say 100 percent.” Marchand has just one goal in his last 14 games, and his last powerplay tally was Jan. 13. “I think the 82 [game] grind, you’re going to have nights where you have it and nights when you don’t,” Montgomery said. “But I think with Brad, we always get his maximum effort, and that’s how he leads us and I think that’s why we’re one of the teams with the most points in the league . . . a lot of times your team play is a reflection of your captain, and our captain competes really hard. But with that, there’s frustration. He’s part of that frustration on the power play, right? He expects to do great things and that’s why he’s an elite player. But sometimes it doesn’t go your way — some nights, you get impatient. I think he’s a little impatient right now, especially on the power play.”